We last heard from ambitious Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully in July, when she was a cheerleader at Gov. Schwarzenegger’s infamous fraud news conference.

As you may remember, that’s where the governor made the outrageous claim that the fraud rate in the state’s In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) program is 25 percent or more. Following the news conference, the Sacramento Bee accused the governor of: “Spouting misleading rhetoric about waste and fraud” , while the San Jose Mercury-News called his allegations: “phantom claims.”

Nevertheless, it appears that Ms. Scully had so much fun at the governor’s dog-and-pony show, she decided to have one of her own yesterday to proclaim what she termed:”a new day” in Sacramento.

Flanked by team members in black shirts reading “IHSS Fraud Task Force,” Scully  announced the arrest Wednesday of 12 people in Sacramento County who are accused of defrauding the in-home care program or other social services.

The cost to set up this multi-agency task force: $1.7 million.

You  might think that Ms. Scully would have proof of widespread fraud in order to justify spending this kind of money on an anti-fraud campaign.  But you’d  be wrong:

Scully said she has no estimate for how much fraud exists in the in-home care program.

Here’s an estimate she could have used, but didn’t: In Sacramento County during fiscal year 2006-2007, there were fewer than 400 reports of suspected fraud out of 17,000 IHSS clients: a rate of only about two percent.

But why let the facts get in the way when you can score political points?

Unfortunately, what the overzealous Ms. Scully has done in Sacramento County is being replicated statewide by the Schwarzenegger Administration. Without any real proof of “massive” fraud, the state is spending tens of millions of dollars on its fraud crusade. Among other things, it has imposed onerous new requirements on the 460,000 low-income elderly, blind and disabled Californians in IHSS and those who care for them.

Treating Alzheimer’s patients like common criminals may be a low point in the history of our state’s criminal justice system. A new day, indeed.

With all the concerns about the state budget deficit, here’s an interesting question:

One year of care for a client in the In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) homecare program costs the state around $13,000 a year, while one year of nursing home care for the same individual costs taxpayers $60,000 and year and up.

Yet every year, it seems, the IHSS program faces serious budget cuts while nursing homes are fully funded. Why is that?  Suggestions welcome.